BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––– Indiana and Iowa were in another close battle on Sunday afternoon at Andy Mohr Field. Like Saturday, the Hawkeyes stopped a Hoosier comeback late in the game to win by one run.
Iowa won the conference battle, 6-5, to take both games of the two-game set on the weekend.
With Indiana’s loss, the team’s record is 19-7 and 0-2 in the Big Ten.
IOWA 6, INDIANA 5
KEY MOMENTS
• Iowa scored early in the top of the first to make it 1-0 as Desiree Rivera hit a sac fly to deep right field to score Jena Young.
• The Hoosiers immediately responded with a run of their own after Taylor Minnick doubled to right field to bring Melina Wilkison in and make it 1-1 in the bottom of the first.
• The second inning was scoreless before Iowa’s offense found life in the third and fourth innings. Allyssa Ramos hit a 3-run home run in the top of the third inning to make it 4-1. Then, Ramos was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to extend the lead to 5-1 in the fourth.
• Jena Young added Iowa’s final run in the top of the fourth when she advanced on a wild pitch to make the lead 6-1.
• Brianna Copeland entered the game to pitch and put a stop to the Hawkeye bats after the Iowa lead got to five. Copeland commanded the game down the stretch, throwing eight strikeouts over the final three innings without allowing an earned run.
• Indiana broke down Iowa’s lead bit by bit in the final stretch.
• In the bottom of the fourth, Melina Wilkison walked with the bases loaded to make it 6-2. Then, in the fifth Copeland singled up the middle to bring the game to 6-3.
• The Hoosiers drew very close in the bottom of the sixth inning when Avery Parker hit a two-run home run over the right-center field wall and narrowed Iowa’s lead to just one.
• Indiana couldn’t string together the hits in the bottom of the seventh to even the score.
NOTABLES
• Parker’s home run was her seventh of the season.
• Minnick, Parker, and Copeland each had two hits in the game.
• Copeland had eight strikeouts in the circle.
• Jasmine Reyes made her first appearance at first base of the season.
• Five Hoosiers are hitting above .400 at the plate on the season: Taylor Minnick (.507), Madalyn Strader (.471), Kinsey Mitchell (.431), Avery Parker (.429) and Aly VanBrandt (.409).
UP NEXT
Indiana will return to play on Tuesday when the team heads to Notre Dame for a road matchup with the Irish at 6 p.m. that night.